Governance Effectiveness
Over the past few years, and especially this year, many health care trustees are feeling like they are on a whitewater rafting trip. They are in a craft with some people they know well and others they do not know at all; the water is swirling them around; and they don’t know which way is…
A friend of mine who’s a colorectal surgeon in a city far from my home in Utah told me a fascinating story recently about how colonoscopies are performed in the hospital where he practices. He said he’s done over 22,000 colonoscopies without a single bowel perforation, and he regularly gets calls…
Trustee talking points
The vast majority of the nation's hospitals and health systems do not have a nurse on their board.
Adding nurses to boards adds diversity and a broader range of perspectives.
Nurses' experience and skills lead to boards making more effective operational, financial…
Trustee talking points
Hospitals and health care foundations have been operating in a favorable charitable environment.
Prospects could change in the face of greater financial volatility and transformation in health care.
Hospital and foundation boards need to take a balanced…
It takes a special kind of person to volunteer to serve on the board of an American hospital these days. As we’ve noted here innumerable times, health care is in the midst of a top-to-bottom transformation. While we don’t know precisely how the dust will settle, we do know, without a…
Many board members at local, independent hospitals have expertise in a wide range of industries, but they often do not have specialist skills in governing hospitals in today’s rapidly changing health care environment. Because health care management continues to grow in complexity,…
A chance moment kick-started Eugene Woods’ career as a health care leader more than 25 years ago, and a simple health care–related accident that took his aunt Carmen’s life years ago continues to fuel his passion for the field decades later. Now, Woods, 52, is embracing some…
The 2017 American Hospital Association Annual Membership Meeting offers trustees an excellent opportunity to gain perspectives that will help us continue to advance health in America. The meeting, to be held May 7-10 in Washington, D.C., will feature some of America’s most…
Trustee talking points
Philanthropy is growing in importance as health care transforms toward new models.
The most crucial time in an organization’s life is the transition from one CEO to another. But while considerable time and attention are given to the mission and vision of a company, this often isn't the case with CEO-transition planning. Such planning is particularly needed in…